JP Millican English 358 A look at Fight Club Introduction In the following discussion, I will explain how the text

Fight Club uses Karl H. Marxs lens of social class struggle. Karl H. Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the establishment of the social sciences. His lens of social class struggle states that there is a tension or struggle between people of different classes. This lens will be highlighted in the text by discussing the literal/material representation of class struggle and a rebellious representation of class struggle. I will then discuss how Carl G. Jungs lens of archetypes and the shadow are represented in the text. Carl G. Jung was a Swiss Psychotherapist and psychiatrist who developed analytical psychology. His concepts included introverted and extraverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His lens of archetypes and the shadow is the discovery of ones unconscious and the least desirable aspects of ones personality, which is largely negative and evil. This lens will be highlighted in the text by discussing how the character of Tyler Durden represents the narrators shadow. These lenses also relate to each other in that the narrators search and discovery for his shadow is directly reflected from his state of class struggle. The ideals and acts of rebellion show how the narrator and possibly the entire organization of fight club are discovering this unconscious state of being that represents the negative or evil inside of them. The two lenses coincide with one another to create a double lens of analysis. Furthermore, I will discuss how

the struggles in the text reflect the status of socio-economic issues that were prevalent in the later 1900s. A Literal Representation of Class Struggle Two representations of class struggle seem most prevalent in the text. The first is the literal/material representation of social class struggle. Dacher Keltner states in his article on social class, An emergent empirical literature is finding that social class contexts are defined by two processes: the objective experience of contrasting levels of material resources that define the individuals social living, and the individuals construal of rank (Psychological Review, 2012) The narrator, Tyler, and Marla all show signs of the lower class, or working class, by their material struggles that are apparent throughout the text. Marla represents the lower class because of what she does to provide basic necessities for herself. Marla goes to an extreme to provide food for herself in that she accepts her dead neighbors food. She has also been without insurance for an extended amount of time. Marla lives on the meals that Meals on Wheels delivers for her neighbors who are dead; Marla accepts the meals and says theyre asleep.Marla hasnt had health insurance for a couple years so shes stopped looking. (Palahniuk, p. 102) In chapter seven, the narrator describes how Tyler and himself both live in a run down house. All night it was raining. The shingles on the roof blister, buckle, curl, and the rain comes through and collects on top of the ceiling plaster and drips down through the light fixtures. When its raining, we have to pull the fuses. You dont dare turn on the lights. (Palahniuk, pp. 56, 57) The physical state of their house and the fact that they cant afford to fix their house shows their struggle to support themselves in society.

Marla and Tyler go to the extreme to provide financial support for themselves. The narrator explains this in detail in chapter eleven. Never, no, never had Tyler paid cash for anything. For clothes, Tyler goes to gyms and hotels and claims clothing out of the lost and found. This is better than Marla, who goes to Laundromats to steal jeans out of the dryers and sell them at twelve dollars to those places that buy used jeans. (Palahniuk, p. 89) This description alone shows the kind of class that the main characters of the text are a part of. The characters are close to rock bottom, but are still managing to survive in society. An Attack on the Upper Class The second representation of class struggle is the actual rebellion of the organization of fight club/Project Mayhem against society and the upper class. This is seen in the many stages of rebellion that take place in the text. The first stage is the fragments of rebellion that take place against the upper class of the city. Tyler first mentions the opportunity to the narrator when he says he got him a job as a banquet waiter, part time. At the Pressman Hotel, if you can work in the evening, Tyler says. The job will stoke your class hatred. (Palahniuk, p. 65) The two characters later take this rebellion to the next stage and do unusual things to the food that is served to upper class people at the Pressman Hotel. The narrator describes one of the jokes he played on these upper class people. Last week, I tell Tyler, when the Empire State Lawyers were here for their Christmas party, I got mine hard and stuck it in all their orange mousses. (Palahniuk, p. 80) The text describes one of Tylers doings to a rich lady at a dinner party. Tyler looks right at Leslie and says, without even picking up the note, I have passed an amount of urine into at least one of your many elegant fragrances. The narrator later quotes, the Pressman Hotel would always be known as the hotel where the richest people in the

world ate pee. (Palahniuk, p. 114) This is clearly some sort of rebellion or a get back at the upper class of society. Tyler is also seen rebelling at his second job where he works as a projectionist in a movie theater. To play a sick joke on people, he splices pornographic images into films. People are not aware of this because the image only projects for one sixtieth of a second, but he continues to do it throughout the entirety of the text. Tyler spliced a penis into everything after that. Usually, close-ups, or a Grand Canyon vagina with an echo, four stories tall and twitching with blood pressure as Cinderella danced with her Prince Charming and people watched. (Palahniuk, p. 31) Tyler does this because he is bored, but he also does this to rebel against society. Bryan Palmer states in his article on the history of class struggle and the working class, Marxism has always found its place. Usually that place has nestled implicitly between the lines of narratives of working-class struggle and workplace or community experience (XIX: Is there Now, 1992) The characters of the text further display this struggle by what they do to the community that they are surrounded by. This is done again by a very disturbing act that is a malicious attempt against the higher/upper class. This rebellion is seen throughout the text when the narrator and Tyler make soap to sell to rich people. This soap happens to be made out of human fat that is rendered from a liposuction clinic in the city. In chapter nineteen the narrator states, Our goal is the big red bags of liposuctioned fat well haul back to Paper Street and render and mix with lye and rosemary and sell back to the very people who paid to have it sucked out. At twenty bucks a bar, these are the only folks who can afford it. (Palahniuk, p. 150) This clearly shows the narrators and Tylers hatred for the upper class.

Their rebellion is taken to the extreme with Tylers development of Project Mayhem. As a following of fight club, Project Mayhem is developed to create mayhem is the city. This is seen in the many episodes of vandalism that are executed by the Space Monkeys of Project Mayhem. In chapter seventeen these acts are described by the narrator. And one day its in the newspaper how a team of men wearing black had stormed through a better neighborhood and a luxury car dealership slamming baseball bats against the front bumpers of cars so the air bags inside would explode in a powdery mess with their car alarms screaming. (Palahniuk, p. 132) And one night in an uptown square park, another group of men poured gasoline around every tree and from tree to tree and set a perfect little forest fire. It was in the newspaper, how town house windows across the street from the fire melted, and parked cars farted and settled on melted flat tires. (Palahniuk, p.133) Tyler explains how he believes the working class is truly the smartest, strongest, and most intelligent people of their generation. When Tyler invented Project Mayhem, Tyler said the goal of Project Mayhem had nothing to do with other people. Tyler didnt care if other people got hurt or not. The goal was to teach each man in the project that he had the power to control history. We, each of us, can take control of the world. (Palahniuk, p. 122) This quote alone shows Tylers true intent in creating Project Mayhem and what his goal is behind the whole idea. Tyler wants the world to be overrun and a new order to rise. The Shadow There are many representations of Jungs theory of archetypes in the text, the most present archetype being the shadow. Clifford Mayes states in his article on Jung, Jungs shadow contains the repressed contents that we do not want to admit to ourselves the behavior we consider bad or evil. (Ten Pillars, 2005) After reading the text, one might think that the

narrator was just schizophrenic. After all the narrator does state, Tyler Durden is a separate personality Ive created (Palahniuk, p. 173) Tyler is more than just a separate personality. He is the bad or evil that the narrator discovers in the text; his shadow. There is a visual representation of the shadow at the beginning of the text. Upon meeting him, the narrator notices Tyler sitting in a shadow. Tyler sat in the shadow of the hand he was building on the beach. (Palahniuk, p. 32) Whether this is just Tyler lazily sitting in a shadow or the actual importance is placed on the giant hand, this is a literal representation of the narrator recognizing or meeting his shadow. An important scene to note is when the narrator begins to actually realize and see his evil side and shadow within himself. When this happens, the result may be an encounter with evil, which, as Jung says, is a psychological reality in opposition to good. (Ann Casement, Encountering the Shadow, 2003) This encounter happens when the narrator refers to himself as the monster. The narrator meets with his manager at the Pressman Hotel to discuss the problems his manager has with him. After his manager threatens to fire him, the narrator beats himself up and comes crawling to his managers feet. The monster crawls across the carpet, hot and picking up the lint and dust sticking to the blood on its claws. And it crawls close enough to grab the manager of the Pressman Hotel around his pinstriped ankle and say it. (Palahniuk, p. 116) By the narrator referring to himself as the monster, he is starting to recognize his evil side and the part of him that he has been discovering the entire time. In chapter twenty the narrator pulls a gun on a cashier outside of a store and threatens him with his life. This is because Tyler instructs the narrator and the other personnel of fight club to make twelve human sacrifices. The narrator quotes, This is what Tyler wants me to do.

These are Tylers words coming out of my mouth. I am Tylers mouth. I am Tylers hands. (Palahniuk, p. 155) Afterwards, upon looking for Tyler in Phoenix Arizona, he asks a bartender if he knows the name Tyler Durden. The bartender tells him, You stopped in last week, Mr. Durden. Dont you remember? (Palahniuk, p. 158) The narrator calls Marla and asks her what his name is. She responds, Tyler Durden. Your name is Tyler Butt-Wipe-for-Brains Durden. (Palahniuk, p. 160) Intense! The shadow in fight club is Tyler. After you have completed the text it is very obvious, even from chapter one, that Tyler is the narrators shadow. In chapter one the narrator states, I know this because Tyler knows this. At first glance, this seems pretty easy to understand because you would think that the narrator knows things because Tyler tells him or shows him things. It isnt until later in the text that the narrator discovers he is Tyler! Tyler and I share the same body, and until now, I didnt know it. (Palahniuk, p. 174) Tyler is truly the narrators shadow and his discovery of the evil or bad. A Double Lens The two lenses work together to create a double lens of analysis that is seen throughout the entirety of the text. The narrator discovers Tyler, his shadow, at a very low state of emotional and material struggle. In chapter two the narrator explains: Three weeks and I hadnt slept. Three weeks without sleep, and everything becomes an out-of-body experience. My doctor said, Insomnia is just the symptom of something larger. Find out whats actually wrong. Listen to your body. (Palahniuk, p. 19) In chapter five his condominium explodes and he gives Tyler a call. While the phone is ringing the narrator is crying out to Tyler in his head: Oh, Tyler, please deliver meOh, Tyler, please rescue me. (Palahniuk, p. 46) The narrator discovers Tyler at his state of emotional and material struggle.

Fight club seems to be a facet for the working class of men to find their own shadows. The narrator describes fight club: You arent alive anywhere like youre alive at fight club. (Palahniuk, p. 51) He further explains fight club: Most guys are at fight club because of something theyre too scared to fight. After a few fights, youre afraid a lot less. (Palahniuk, p. 54) The narrator later sees a group of beat up men. There are guys with sideways noses, and these guys at the bar see me with the puckered hole in my cheek and were an instant family. (Palahniuk, p. 156) Fight club is part of the reason the narrator found his shadow and how other men of the working class are finding their shadows. So What? The struggles in the text directly reflect the state of economical and social struggle that were apparent in the later 1900s. Corazon R. Lafuente and Patricia L. Lane, two scholars from the Louisiana State University Medical Center, state in their article, The number of homeless persons, a diverse group differing in cultural orientations, ages, and reasons for becoming homeless, was estimated to be 8.5 million between 1985 and 1990 (Link et. al., 1994). (The Lived Experiences Of Homeless Men, 1995) In 1995, the United States federal funding spent a record high of $1,505.4 million on services for the homeless. Polo A. Toro and Melissa G. Warren state in their article on the issue, For example, in FY 1995, HHS spent $143.3 million in McKinney Act funds on health care, substance abuse treatment, and research related to homeless persons, FEMA spent $130 million on emergency food and shelters, and the VA spent $68.8 million on care for homeless veterans. (Homelessness in the United States: Policy Considerations, 1999) The socio-economical status of the late 1900s also concerned other topics such as statelevel energy use. Matthew Thomas Clement and Jessica Shultz state in their article on the issue,

The percent of the U.S. population living in urban areas grew from around 69.9% in 1960 to about 75.2% in 1990.4 During this same time period, the total gross domestic product of the United States more than doubled from $2.83 trillion to $8.03 trillion (in 2005 dollars). (Political Economy, 2011) These are only a couple of the list of issues that were present during the United States socio-economic status in the later 1900s. Conclusion In conclusion, these quotes and scenes truly represent the lenses of Marxs social class struggle theory and Jungs archetype theory as they relate to the text of Fight Club. The narrator, Tyler, and Marla all represent the literal/material evidence of class struggle. The narrator and Tyler represent class struggle through stages of rebellion that take place. Also, the narrators shadow in the text is represented by the character of Tyler. These two lenses work together to create a double lens to analyze the text. Finally, the book Fight Club reflects the socio-economic status that was present during the late 1900s.

Works Cited Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996. Print. Dacher Keltner, et al. "Social Class, Solipsism, And Contextualism: How The Rich Are Different From The Poor." Psychological Review 119.3 (2012): 546-572. PsycARTICLES. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. Mayes, Clifford. "Ten Pillars Of A Jungian Approach To Education." Encounter 18.2 (2005): 30-41. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. Palmer, B. "XIX: Is There Now, Or Has There Ever Been, A Working Class?." History Today 42.3 (1992): 51. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. Casement, A. "Encountering The Shadow In Rites Of Passage: A Study In Activations." Journal Of Analytical Psychology 48.1 (2003): 29-46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. Toro, Paul A., and Paul A. Melissa G. Warren. "Homelessness In The United States: Policy Considerations." Journal Of Community Psychology 27.2 (1999): 119-136. EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. Lafuente, Corazon R., and Patricia L. Lane. "The Lived Experiences Of Homeless Men." Journal Of Community Health Nursing 12.4 (1995): 211. EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. Clement, Matthew Thomas, and Jessica Schultz. "Political Economy, Ecological Modernization, And Energy Use: A Panel Analysis Of State-Level Energy Use In The United States, 1960-1990." Sociological Forum 26.3 (2011): 581-600. EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.